AB de Villers compares Virat Kohli to Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic | Cricket News
AB de Villers has never shied away from showing his appreciation for his former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate Virat Kohli. Even after his retirement the bond between both the stars seems to be intact.
Kohli scored 100 in his 500th international game and appreciating the knock De Villers heaped praises on former India captain and compared him to Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Speaking on his YouTube channel De Villers said, “One thing stands out I see a similar thing in the greatest sportsmen worldwide. I have seen Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, the l goes on. You mention anyone all of them have one thing in common which is desire hunger and a fighting spirit. The desire to never give up they want to win the medals they want to be the champions you see Ronaldo and Messi that’s the thing that makes Virat Kohli the best in the business.”
“He hates losing so do I and some of the greatest sports people that’s what drives them to work harder than the guy next to them to get one inch on them,” the 39-year-old further added.
Kohli’s kind heart
De Villers also spoke about how kind-hearted Kohli is, he said: “He actually got a beautiful heart I can call myself lucky to witness that first hand not a lot of people get the opportunity not only to see the emotional fighter of a guy on the field. He is a softie off the field. He makes time for people and he always has a helping hand for whoever is in need.”
The former RCB legend also referred to a recent heartwarming incident when Joshua Da Silva’s mother hugged Kohli during the second Test in Trinidad and the star batter let her take a few pictures with her.
Some memorable souvenirs and infinite inspiration in there 😃👌🏻
Spirit of Cricket 👏🏻👏🏻
#TATAIPL | #SRHvRCB | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/wLUPhCxmED
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 18, 2023
He further recalled instances where Kohli would give advice to the younger player during IPL. “Virat Kohli makes time for other people but I experienced something first-hand in Sharjah in the IPL match when IPL was in the UAE and we were playing SRH After the game there were literally 6-7 SRH players around Virat he basically was giving them coaching lessons. Talking about batting, life challenges and the pressure of the game he covered everything I was just standing there and seeing this unfold that is the beauty of the IPL.”
Virat Kohli on scoring his Test ton
The batter though has reached his past peak in the white ball format his red-ball game has not gone to the same level before the West Indies tour. Though he scored a mammoth 100 in Ahmedabad earlier this year the wicket was conducive for batting. However, in the second Test at Trinidad after five years he broke the overseas century drought in relatively difficult conditions.
“Even though I have performed in T20s again and have scored ODI centuries and all that stuff white ball cricket was more or less a thing where just going into the right frame of mind on that particular day or certain amount of time in the game. You can get over the hurdles you won’t be challenged all day. But even to get a Test century on wicket which is not offering a lot to the bowlers. You still have to bat for 6-7 hours sometimes because they are that patient with their fields, It is just testing you constantly. I have always cherished as a cricketer to be in those situations and Tested in it consently,” he told on the Youtube channel.
